Collection time-card for letter-boxes



No. 622,434. Patented Apr. 4, I899. W. H. ANSELL.

COLLECTION TIME CARD fOB LETTER BOXES.

(Application filed July 21, 1898.)

HOURS FOR COLLECTIONS A.M. P-M. 4 Collection 12'4O 6 '40 l-'4O 9 "OO 3-20 10-55 5-OO OOO 7-30 SUNDAY 10-30 A.M. 6-40 PM.

Witnesses Inventor Z( WM Z 9% By Attorney UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM H. A'NSELII, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE,

COLLECTION TIME-CARD FOR LETTER-BOXES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,434, dated April 4, 1899. Application filed July 21, 1898. Serial No. 686,502. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. ANSELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Manchester, in the county of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in Collection Time-Cards for Letter-Boxes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

All street letter drop-boxes are now provided in a conspicuous place upon their outside with a metal plate, upon which is engraved the hours for morning and evening collection of the letters or other mail-matter, and it is to these which this invention relates. It is of course very convenient to have these drop-boxes supplied with a schedule of the times of dayat which their contents are collected by a collector; but if a person is desirous of dropping mail which it is important should be at the post-office at a given time in order that it may depart by a given train, and such person arrives at a drop-box at, say, 12.40 p. m., and after waiting a few moments does not see a collector he may think it necessary to walk to the post-office or take other means of getting his mail there, when possiblythat particular collection has not yet been gathered by the collector, or, on the other hand, a collector after frequently opening that particular box at that hour and finding it empty may when hurried skip that collection, and thus work injury to the public. It is thus very desirable that it shall be known definitely whether or no the various collections from these street letter-boxes have been made; and the object of the present invention is to provide suitable means for announcing the fact.

The invention will be fully set forth in the following specification and claims and clearly illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same, of which- Figure l is a broken elevation showing one of my improved collection-schedules attached to a portion of a letter-box, Fig. 2 being a broken plan view of the same. Fig. 3 shows a cross-section of a portion of a letter-box to which my improvements are attached, Fig. 4 being a view similar to Fig. 3, taken at another point and showing in cross-section the square portion of a spindle carrying a rotary cylinder on which a-subsequent collection is announced when required.

Similar reference-letters denote correspond ing parts in all the views.

A represents a portion of a street letter drop-box, which is provided in the present instance with a horizontally-elongated open- Ing a.

B is a frame secured by screws or rivets b to the box A and adapted to confine the edges of a collection time-plate O in the desired place, said plate 0 being provided with a horizontally-elongated opening a, over which ap-' pear the words Next collection, as seen in Fig. 1.

Any number of screws or rivets b may be used in the frame 13 for holding the plate 0 in proper position, one only of these being shown in the drawings.

On the inside of the box A and at either end of the opening a are secured suitable brackets D D, the former being larger than the latter and provided with a series of notches or perforations d, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3, and each bracket has a central perforation, respectively, cl d", the perforation d of the bracket D being preferably larger than the perforation d of the bracket D for the accommodation of the larger cylindrical portion 6 of the spindle E, terminating at that end with a knob F. The opposite end of said spindle terminates with a smaller cylindrical portion e, provided at its end with a threaded nut G, and between its cylindrical portions said spindle is square, as at 6 on which is mounted a cylinder H, which may be formed of wood having a central longitudinal perforation h for the reception of said spindle. The opening h being more economically made with a round tool, plates it, having a square opening to fit the square part 6 of said spindle, are secured by screws h one at each end of the cylinder H, said plates h being sufficiently loose to permit of a-slight longitudinal movement of the cylinder upon the spindle, for a purpose to be hereinafter explained.

The cylinder H has a metal facing I, on which is engraved each of the times or hours for collection recorded on the time-schedule O, as shown in Fig. 1, and as the cylinder rests slightly within the opening a of the box A the former will remain stationary while the spindle E may be moved longitudinally, which must occur before the cylinder H can be rotated for exposing to view any given hour for The collection. Whatever mechanism may be employed for this purpose itis essential that it should be manipulated only within the box A, so that no one except postal clerks shall be able to change it. A simple device to accomplish this result consists in providing the knob F with an arm f, having near its free end a laterally-projecting stud or detent f, adapted to engage the perforations (1 of the bracket D, and the portion e of the spindle E with a helical spring J, aeting between the bracket D and the nut G of said spindle, the operation of which is very simple.

Vhen a collector has removed the contents of a given b0x--say at 12.40 p. m.he simply draws the knob F outward a little, so as to disengage the detent f from the graduated openings dot the bracket D, and turns said knob forward far enough to cause said detent to slip into the next notch or opening d, (this being efiiected by the action of the spring .l,) which causes the next hour for collection to be exposed to viewviz., 1.40-thus making it plainto every one that the 12.40 p. m. collection has been made and at what time the next is to be made.

Having described my improvements, what I claim is 1. In a time-collection card for letter boxes, the combination with a plate provided with an opening, of an indicator-cylinder opposite said opening, a rotatory knob operatively connected with the cylinder and capable of longitudinal movement, and locking mechanism operatively connected with the knob and designed to be actuated by the longitudinal movement thereof, substantially as specified.

2. In a collection time-card for letter-boxes, the combination with an apertured plate, of a rotary and longitudinallymovable spindle, an indicator-cylinder mounted upon the spindle in a manner to permit its rotation therewith and to permit independent longitudinal movement of the spindle, means for rotating said spindle, means for yieldingly urging the spindle longitudinally, and looking mechanism operatively connected with the spindle and designed to be locked and released by the longitudinal movement of the latter, substantially as specified.

3. In a collection time-card forletter-boxes, the combination with an apertured plate, of an indicator-cylinder, bearin gs for said spindle one of which is provided with a series of apertures, a locking-stud supported by the spindle and designed to enter the apertures in the bearing, and a spring arranged to urge the spindle longitudinallyand to compel the engagement of the locking-stud with one of the apertures in the bearing, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAMv H. ANSELL.

\Vitnesses:

J. B. THURsToN, EMILE lI. TARDIVEL. 

